Doctor bats for overhaul of PH healthcare system

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A doctor said there is a need to overhaul the healthcare system of the country and to push for a Pandemic Preparedness Act, adding that these are among the important lessons brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Dominga “Minguita” Padilla, an ophthalmologist-turned-health advocate, said she believes that the pandemic is about to end since the discovery of new mutations showed that COVID was becoming a weaker virus.

There are common signs that a pandemic is about to end, based on past pandemics that hit the world, and eventually became a common flu or influenza.

Senatorial candidate Dr. Dominga “Minguita” Padilla

“What happens now is, from a pandemic, it will become an endemic. It’s there in our environment but it will not disrupt our lives. We have to start living with the virus and make it part of our transitioning,” said Padilla, who is running for senator under the Partido Reporma of presidential aspirant Panfilo Lacson.

She said that if she will win in the May 9 elections, she will prioritize the passage of a Pandemic Preparedness Act, to prepare the country in case of another pandemic.

Meanwhile, Padilla said that if Bacolod will be deescalated to Alert Level 1 in March, it is because of its high vaccination rate.

Similar to other big cities, vaccination is key in the new normal, and health protocols should remain, like the wearing of face masks, and gathering of people should be conducted in open areas, she said in a press conference Feb. 25.

Padilla added that the country should first have a very low positivity rate before the mandatory use of face masks is lifted, but this should be done soon since the Philippines cannot afford a longer restriction, which impacts on the economy.

Padilla is a clinical associate professor at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences of the Philippine General Hospital. She is the founder and current president and CEO of the Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines, and a founding council member of the Asia Cornea Society. | MML